The Chirr'T'Thar ship settles neatly next to where Ariella and Thorian wait anxiously next to their own ship on the edge of the cliff. Sylvia leads her motley crew to see what seems to be a mythical spacer returning to Nexus.
Sirius looks at the monitors and blinks as he finally gets a good look at the aliens and purrs, "No....it CAN"T be?"
Leda leans over to take a look. "It can't be what?"
Arielle shakes his head, "Never seen one like that Cap'n. And I thought I'd seen 'em all."
Sirius purrs, "Look at them, it almost looks like they're...it must be a mistake. Let's go outside and see if that's what they really look like."
Thorian frowns a bit.."Me too, Arielle..me too." He moves forward a little.
Arielle steps out of the ship and manages to stand more or less 'at attention'.
Sirius shakes his head as he approaches the hatch and cycles it, waiting nervously as it finally slides open.
Leda frowns as she looks over the images, then steps up and starts out the hatch behind Sirius.
Thorian straightens his shirt a bit and stands taller.
Sylvia shushes the rest of the party behind her, and gets as close as she feels safe in doing, hiding behind one of the last of the trees big enough for that.
Sirius pads down the short hatch and out into the Nexan sun. He spreads his wings slightly in shock as he stares at the aliens, all four feet planted firmly, his arms limp at his his sides, "They all look like...Skygazers! Leda?!?!"
Timothy nods to Sylvia but tries to get a better look. From this angle he can only see the open hatch of the ship that just landed, and something is climbing out...on all fours?
Leda nods dumbly. "I guess they do kinda, yeah..."
Thorian's eyes narrow as he watches the aliens approach.
With a heavy whuff, the pack leader follows the scent, breaking a trail through the thick forest.
Sirius shakes his head, "I know they get involved in everyone else's business, and are the most prolific line from the first mother, but an entire race of bipeds?"
Arielle closely watches as the two aliens disembark. o O { Hmm...hexapodal. Haven't seen that develop before. }
Thorian catches Arielle's glance, and then returns his attention back to the approaching individuals.
Sirius, like Leda, is only wearing a simple belt with pouches and some simple jewelry, including the clan arm bands. He waits for Leda to take the initiative.
Leda says, "Well, couldn't the bipeds have come from somewhere else?"
Sirius frowns, "We can only hope."
Arielle's eyes move from one to the other, trying to get a feel for the people based on appearance.
The rest of the pack follows the leader, large round ears and oval noses keying in on the scent of food coming from the open food pack resting on Arielle and Thorian's ship. They all lick their tusk like fangs in anticipation.
Sirius shakes his head to clear it and purrs, "I hope they speak trade common here. So, "captain", you're on. ;)"
Thorian keeps his eyes on the quadrupeds, but says to Arielle.."I wonder if they speak common."
Arielle looks back at Thorian for a second, "You would have to bring up that one nagging little problem, wouldn't you?"
Thorian chuckles and nods.."It's my job."
Timothy whispers to Sylvia, "Those...animals..space pets maybe? Seem to be looking at something on the other ship?"
Arielle frowns, "You do it too well, Cap'n."
Thorian moves forward slightly, toward the aliens. "Thanks, Ari."
A sudden stillness in the woods behind the ships and then a crashing that seems to be getting louder.
Leda takes a step forward, and tries the standard Chirr'T'Thar trade common. "Greetings. We come from the ship Tail Thrasher. We picked up your distress beacon, and came down to see what the trouble was."
Sylvia frowns, turning around to see what the crashing is. It couldn't really be, could it?
Gerald Flattail, intrepid councilman, is presently hiding behind Tobias and crew, his sensitive ears pick up a sound that's just as scary, and he whispers, "Larctos? Out here?"
Arielle looks over at the woods.
Thorian frowns a moment, struggling with the language. "Greetings." He finally manages.
Sylvia nods slowly to Gerald, not saying anything yet.
Leda grins. "Good, you do speak the trade common."
Timothy hurriedly tries to remember if he has any incantations to stop something as evil and vicious as a pack of Larctos, but remains curious about the odd space animals..what were they doing in a spacer ship? Are they being planted here for a future set of pack animals for new colonists?
Thorian nods, struggling again.."Yes..your dialect is..different..frogs mine." He blinks a bit.
Sirius can't help himself and purrs, "Is yur race...does name "Skygazer" mean anythings to you?"
With grunted orders, the leader orders his pack onward, churning through the brush and leaving a trail that a blind man could follow, were he so inclined to commit suicide.
Leda turns to look at Sirius.
Leda says, "I thought I was supposed to talk to them."
Thorian glances at Arielle a moment, then returns his gaze to the aliens.."Urmm..I don't think so..?"
Sirius flicks his ears at the sound and blushes at Leda, "Sorry Captain."
Arielle shakes his head, "Not beyond the literal sense."
Thorian nods to Arielle.."Maybe something is lost in the translation."
Arielle shrugs, "Possibly. Seemed clear enough, though."
Sirius ears pick up more of the thrashing sounds and he purrs softly in his own tongue, "Wow. The game sounds rather eager around here."
The crashing in the woods grows considerably louder...whatever is causing it is definitely headed for the cliff.
Gerald is presently gibbering, whether at the approaching Larctos or the odd space animals, no one is sure.
Leda nods, then addresses the others. "Do you two know what that is, and if we should head for cover?"
Sylvia tries to shush Gerald.
Thorian's ears flick at the crashing sounds and he tenses a bit.."No..I don't fribble what that sound is..there are many arkglesigns on this world."
Arielle shakes his head, "Nope." Though which question he is answering is a bit unclear.
Leda nods. "Let's see..." She ticks things off on her hand. "How long have you been here? What exactly is the damage? And what star system are you from originally?"
Sirius says in trade standard, "Probably just *relaxation* (game?) Captain."
Timothy swallows and whispers to Sylvia, "I think they've scented the spacers' pets. What will the spacers do if we let their pets get killed?"
Thorian blinks a bit. "Our propulsion system is damaged."
The crashing in the woods reaches a crescendo of violence only moments before a pack of creatures roars out of the woods.
Leda says, "Well, what do you need to fix... what the nova is that?!"
Arielle swears and turns around, shoving Thorian toward the ship. "Some sort of stampede! Get in!"\
Thorian turns and runs without hesitation back to the ship.
The leader of the Larctos is a vicious brute. 7 inch saber tooth like fangs along with 4 inch long razor sharp claws on the front legs, and a ridge of sharp spines going along the back of what would otherwise seem to be a 300 pound...Koala bear.
Arielle follows Thorian and slams the hatchway closed behind him. "What in the name of space was that?"
Thorian leans against the hatchway.."I haven't a clue."
Sylvia judges the Larctos' path, and keeps _very_ still as she sees the creatures are going past them...
Timothy swallows as he watches the pack of 7 go after the odd animals by the ship.
Sylvia says to Timothy, "I don't know. But unless you've got something that could take on an entire pack, we'd better hit this all together."
The pack leader grunts, diverting the pack's charge toward the two felitaurs.
Thorian peers out the hatch...."Uh oh."
Leda growls at the weird creatures, and starts running towards one that's a little off to the side... she pounces, putting all her weight into it to try and knock the thing away from the rest of the pack so she isn't surrounded.
Three of the beasts move after Sirius, the other three move after Leda as she attacks one of their pack.
Thorian says, "You may get to do some of that shooting after all, Arielle."
Sirius snaps open the sharp spurs at the tips of his wings and leaps into the lead of the pack, claws tearing into the first Larctos that comes into range.
Arielle looks out the hatch..."Not if they insist on going hand to hand."
The three after Leda split around the felitaur, trying to get at her flanks.
Leda tears into the one she's sitting on, ripping a hole in its belly. As she hears another one coming up behind her, she spins, her wings flaring out to catch them with the spurs.
The Larctos that Sirius leaps at turns to the side with surprising agility. The others move to his flanks and start to circle.
Thorian wows.."Interesting fighting technique.."
Gerald gasps, "Those things...are worse than Larctos?"
Sylvia hmmmms, watching carefully, and mentally taking notes on all this.
Sirius growls at being outmaneuvered and spins back, swiping through the air with his wingtips at any Larctos in range as he goes back after the one that dodged him.
Another Larctos dies as Leda slashes it's throat, but another has succeeded in getting behind her and bites her flank...and yelps as he hurts his tusks.
Leda suddenly leaps almost straight up as two of the Larctos' try to come at her, pausing in the air just long enough to throw them off balance before she drops back down again and takes a swipe at one.
Timothy starts thinking that maybe the spacers want the planet for themselves, so they sent down their trained attack animals first?
The dodger spins and launches himself at Sirius with a grunt. Apparently this was a signal, because the two Larctos that maneuvered behind Sirius charge in and try to ham-string him.
Thorian says, "Well, Arielle, shall we offer some supporting fire?"
Sirius launches into the beast in return, his claws and fangs going in for the animals neck.
With a croak, the Larctos that Sirius rips into dies -- just as the others get in range to tear into his haunches.
Leda growls again at the one that bit at her... now she's mad. She pulls one of the feathers on her wing out and slams it down to the ground right between her and the Larctos', knowing that _she_ can handle the explosion...
Arielle opens up the hatch and draws his gun. He shouts something vague and incoherent about the probable ancestry of the pack animals and opens fire!
The Larctos with the sore teeth is backing off, while the other one gets back to her feet from where Leda dropped her and snarls...but only for a second before her head is blown clean off her shoulders.
Thorian slips in next to Arielle and takes aim, his gun coughing a red flame.
The remaining Larctos by Leda runs, leaving three of his dead fellows at her feet.
Leda hmmphs, and says something that is completely untranslatable but which describes in detail the likely genetic history of the creatures involved.
Sirius spends a few seconds savoring his kill until his ears pick up the creatures ambushing him from behind.
Gerald finally gets his marbles together and hoarsely whispers, "We've seen enough, let's get out of here before they notice us!"
One of the two slams his tusks into Sirius' haunch -- the other...the pack leader, slams into the 'taur and tries to knock him off his feet.
Leda folds her arms across her chest, and yells in common, "You guys sure know how to throw a party."
Arielle's fire is mostly suppressive..he's not interested in starting a galactic incident by accidentally blasting one of the good guys.
Thorian takes careful aim at the pack leader, clipping off several rounds.
Leda starts heading towards Sirius and his playmates to help out.
Arielle shouts to Leda. "Wasn't my idea!"
Thorian curses as his shots only clip the leader, doing minimal damage.
Sirius growls as he's knocked off his feet, however he gets a chance and wraps his tail around one of the last of the Larctos. It's not strong enough to really hurt it, but it holds it still so the taurs wings can come down and SLAM his wing spurs into its skull.
The pack leader howls in pain and turns away from Sirius as the last of his brood get killed. With surprising haste and an undue amount of wisdom, he turns and runs into the woods to hunt for easier prey.
Arielle looks at Thorian, "Good shooting, Cap'n."
Leda brushes herself off. "Not bad."
Sirius pants on his back and starts grinning at Leda, "Did you remember to bring any Ajuck sauce Captain?"
Thorian chuckles.."Thanks, but I just clipped him."
Arielle hops out of the ship and chuckles, "He ran off, didn't he?"
Sirius chuckles as he rolls back onto his feet.
Leda smirks. "Not as such, but we can fake it from some of the rations."
Thorian follows, re-holstering his gun. "true."
Sirius licks the blood from his fangs and purrs, "They don't taste too bad. But boy, are they UGLY."
Arielle checks the charge on his gun before sliding it back into the holster. To the others he calls out, "I'm glad you enjoyed the joy (fun?). If you'll still around we can have dinner later."
Sylvia signals the others in the party, and starts backing away from the clearing.
Timothy looks crestfallen, apparently the spacers want Nexus for their own. Gerald just knows he doesn't want those...beasts around...or himself anywhere near them.
Thorian shakes his head, taking in the fallen beasts.
Sylvia leads the rest of the group at least far enough back so they can talk without too much chance of being overheard. "Well?"
Sirius grins, "Well, we have our fresh meat for the crew Leda."
Timothy sadly states, "We have to warn the council and the scholar mage guild. The spacers have sent attack animals to wipe us out!"
Tobias clacks his beak together in agreement with Timothy.
Gerald nods nervously, "For once I agree with the runt. We need to destroy that damn Holy Bacon. But first, let's get out of here. I won't feel safe till I'm back within the city walls."
Sylvia frowns. "Well, I'm not sure it's that bad... they were defending themselves. But we'd still better warn the council of what's out here."
Leda grins, practically bouncing.
Timothy hmms, "True, but why would they send their animals ahead first? But you're right, we need to get back."
Gerald Flattail nods his head vigorously at that suggestion.
Sirius hmms, "Captain, I'll pack our "fresh food" into stasis, while I assume you are going to finish up finding out what they need and where they are from?"
Leda calms down again. "Got it." She turns back to Thorian. "Okay... so, what do you need to make this space worthy again?"
Thorian frowns, looking at the dead beasts. He turns his attention to the alien.."My first officer can tell you that..Arielle.."
Sirius hauls a bloody carcass over his shoulder and pads into the sleek craft, a true dichotomy of primal barbarian and high technology.
Arielle looks at Leda for a few seconds. "Ok. Space worthy. We have most of what we need, besides time. Mostly, I'd be satisfied with a few spare drive components, which you probably don't have, and some scanner parts, which you might have."
Leda nods. "Can we get a list?"
Sirius hauls the next body into the ship.
Arielle nods, "Sure. I've got a complete list of everything that got trashed."
Arielle holds up a finger. "Be right back."
Thorian says, "What part of the galaxy are you from, if I may ask?"
Leda grins. "That was supposed to be my question!"
Arielle slips into the ship and grabs his portable terminal from the science station, calling up a list of parts and sorting it down to essentials. He checks over the list as he steps back outside.
Thorian chuckles softly and flourishes a bow.."An exchange then. We are from a planet called Harmass."
Arielle tosses the terminal to Leda. "That's the important stuff. The things highlighted in blue are the ones we don't have enough spares for." There are three or four such items.
Leda catches the terminal in one hand, and scans down the list, taking a bit to parse the odd dialect.
Sirius hauls the last of the critters inside and comes out with a basic tool kit.
Leda nods as she looks it over. "Anyhow, we're from the Zantak cluster. Near the Littoral system, if that means anything to you."
Thorian blinks.."There's no solar system there."
Sirius flicks his ears and sighs, "There is now."
Thorian frowns a little, but nods. "I see."
Arielle looks at Sirius. "There is now? How did you put a solar mass, complete with planetary system, where there was none previously?"
Leda says, "It's a _long_ story."
Arielle opens his mouth to ask and thinks better of it. "Right. Long story."
Sirius looks at Leda and purrs, "Well, that settles it, they aren't related to the Skygazers. Thank the first mother's furry haunches."
Thorian looks at Arielle for a moment, then returns to the aliens.
Leda nods back to Sirius. "That would have been difficult to explain back on the ship."
Arielle waits while Leda looks over the list.
Sirius hmms and purrs to Thorian, "Do all your kind have ..THAT particular fur pattern?"
Leda shows the listing to Sirius. "I think we can handle the worst of these."
Thorian says, "We appreciate you answering our distress call.."
Sirius nods and purrs, "And I think I can patch something together to work for this part. Can I see the access panel for this part of your sensor array?"
Sirius eeps and purrs, "Sorry Captain. My enthusiasm tends to run over the chain of command now and then. ;)"
Thorian looks at Arielle for a moment and nods.."Take that one back, Arielle."
Leda nods. "I'll get some of the parts... we don't have that bandpass filter, but we can get one that's close and tweak it."
Arielle nods, "Sure, Cap. It's over this way." He turns and heads for the nose of the ship where the access panel is already hanging open.
Sirius pads over and looks in and hmms, "Mind if I remove this module and take it to our ship? I can work on it there."
Arielle reaches in and disconnects the module, "Guess not. Don't change too much. It's got to fit into the same slot."
Thorian watches as Arielle and the alien discuss the ship.
Sirius nods to Arielle and looks up into the hatch and then his wings reach in, and with a few deft motions and a couple of apparent sparks from the feathers he hmms and pulls out another part, "Looks fried, and I know we have one of these to spare. I'll be back in a few."
Arielle rubs his nose and mutters to himself when he's alone again, "Don't know who you are, but you sure seem to know what you're doing."
Leda nods, and carries the list off with her as she goes to get a couple of phase-lock filters for the sensor arrays.
Sirius looks back at Arielle and purrs to Leda, "Did you notice the cute mel? ;)"
Thorian leans against the ship, watching the procedures with a careful eye.
Leda grins. "Yeah, but I'm not sure he'd survive it."
Sylvia leads the rest of her party back to the council, silent as she continues thinking over what she's seen.
Sirius chuckles, "Hey, I'd be gentle. Honest. Well, I'll have this ready in an hour or so captain. Call me if you need me."
Arielle walks back over to Thorian, "What do you think?"
Leda nods. "Will do."
Thorian hrms, watching the aliens.."I don't know what to think. They claim they come from a solar system where there isn't one..they seem..almost too ready to help..yet.." He shakes his head.
As the Haven group trudges along, Timothy is wondering what this will mean to the scholar mages' hopes of upgrading Haven's status and acquiring new information.
Gerald Flattail is just trying to hurry home and let the city guard worry about those animals. That, and he's going to remind the council they owe him big time, sending someone as important as he is on a mission like this. Hmmf!
Arielle nods. "The first is checkable. IF we can get astrogation back online. The other...I know. I'm not used to anything like this either. Not one word said about payment or salvage. No threats. Almost like they are genuinely nice people."
Thorian nods. "I wonder what they will ask of us in payment."
Arielle whews softly..."Don't know. Don't know how we're going to pay it off, either. What little cargo we had was mostly spares."
Thorian nods, shaking his head.."We will have to wait and see."
Leda 'accidently' brushes up against Arielle during the repairs, and smiles winningly at him.
In good time the stranded ship is made space worthy, thanks to the help of Leda and Sirius. Most of the systems that Arielle considered critical were repaired, and that fact gave him no end of satisfaction, which he returned in kind to the other two in the form of very verbal praise.
As the landing shuttle takes off, Arielle looks over at Thorian, "Cap'n...If I didn't know better, I'd say that they were flirting with us."
Thorian chuckles softly.."Very probably so, Arielle. Very probably so."
Arielle shakes his head and slips into the ship. "Well, lets run some checks on the ship and make sure everything is going to work right." He stops.. "They did look pretty good, though." He shakes his head and leans over the science station and starts punching buttons.
Thorian chuckles, shaking his head. "Whatever you say, Arielle."
Thorian returns to inside the ship, running his own checks.
Leda shakes her head. "Well, that was certainly a weird little place..."
Sirius nods to Leda, "You have to admit, they were cute. Though the odds of another race of felinoids evolving that fur pattern...?"
Leda nods. "We'll have to mention this. Maybe someone else can figure it out."
Sirius purrs, "The council of regulators should be happy. We've got another possible trading partner, assuming that war of theirs doesn't interfere. I'll have our rendezvous coordinates in a bit Leda. And once we're back on the main ship, I think we both have tomorrow off? ;)""
A slow smile spreads across Leda's face. "I think we do, yes."
Sirius ahems and purrs with a mostly straight face, "It's always a pleasure to serve "under" you captain."
Leda grins. "I should hope so."
Later on that evening
The one Larctos that ran from Leda continues to run. One of the odd objects the felitaur was carrying is embedded into the side of the sabre tooth killer koala, goading it to run even more erratically, till it runs towards a sandy pit filled area full of cone shaped pits that surround a field of kumquats.
A short scream as the Larctos meets it's end, and then several hours later a burp from one of the ascalaphs is heard and a shiny metal object lands at the edge of the sand.
Nalae bounds across the field towards the little pit of sand, her eyes longingly drawn towards the forest so close on the other end. She cautiously moves up and down the side of the edge of the sandy area, unwilling to step back onto that dangerous ground.
The squarish metal object, obviously a very intricate and important device by it's sleek design, glitters near a fallen kumquat branch.
Nalae blinks slowly as the light glimmers across that little fragment of metal. Curiously (though also cautiously), she pads over towards it and examines it.
The small device looks complete. It has one hole that is about 3/4 of an inch in diameter and an inch deep, and one end has a small hole punched through with a torn thong made of some smooth shiny white woven rope.
Nalae slowly reaches down and lifts the little glittery-on-a-rope. Peering at it for a moment, she smiles a little. It's the shiniest arrowhead she's ever seen. Quickly tying the rope into a loop, she settles it around her neck.
With a cry of "Fuzzzy!" Delrina, the little rabbit girl wanders towards Nalae.
Nalae turns about and casts a faint smile towards the little bunny. She gently fuzzles the kid's headfur before looking back at the forest.
Delrina tugs on the little Marenati and pulls her back toward the house where she has yet another something to show her new found friend.
Nalae reluctantly moves back towards the closed-in house, finally looking away from the forest. "What?" she inquires of the little bunny.
The last thing heard is the baby bunny's disappointment that Nalae didn't like her gift of mud pies. No accounting for taste. And we fade out, leaving Nalae with a very mysterious, but supposedly harmless bit of metal around her neck.